“Nobody reads press releases.”  This is said by every marketing person out there worth their salt.  Lou Covey has written extensively about this subject in his State of the Media blog.  The bottom line is two fold.  Dropping advertising revenues has whittled down the size of editorial staff who no long have the time to read the hundreds of press releases that cross their desks every week.  In addition, there are so many sources and different ways to communicate that a press release is often released well after the “news” has got out.  (You should really be building an online community and communicating through that.  It’s cheaper and much more effective.)

However, there is a valid use for a press release - as an internal communication and decision making tool within the product development process.

At the very beginning of the product development cycle, before the MRD has been created, bring the product team together and create the press release.  Then get the executive sponsors to sign-off on it.

By going through this process the team will have accomplished a great deal:

1. Agreed to the high-level description of what is to be developed
2. Agreed to the markets and applications served
3. Agreed to the value proposition of the product
4. Agreed to the high-level features that drive the value proposition
5. Understand how the product compares to competitors’ offerings
6. Agreed to a time-frame within which the product will be released

By bringing the cross-functional product team together and all coming to agreement on these items will make for a much more efficient product development process.

Getting the sign-off from the executive sponsors will ensure that all of the stake-holders are on the same page and expectations are set appropriately.

However, the press release should not be shoved back into a “draw” and forgotten until it’s time to “go to press” (which will never happen).  When ever there are discussions or debates about a feature change (in or out), schedule push, or anything else that could be seen as effecting the fundamentals of the product - bring out the press release for a sanity check:

1. Is the product fundamentally the same?
2. Does this change the markets or applications the product serves?
3. Is the value proposition altered?
4. Are the high-level features that support the value proposition changed?
5. How does this change our position relative to the competition?
6. Does this change effect the scheduled release date?

Of course, if none of these need to be altered (ie. the market has been largely unchanged), or indeed none of them are altered, the question then is “why are we having this discussion?” - Let’s get back to work.

So while it is counter-intuitive, the press release can be a very powerful tool to unify a team, keep them focused, coordinated and able to decide wisely between what they could do, and what they should do.

Other than that, press releases are a waste of time and money.

Posted under industry, marketing